Food Fête
Tricentennial Wing, 520 Royal Street
$25 per person
Included with Food Forum admission
Taste the Best of Louisiana
You are invited to “come pass a good time” at Food Fête—the official tasting event of HNOC’s 2025 Food Forum! Hosted at 520 Royal Street and featuring an open bar, this is your chance to experience Louisiana’s take on home cooking and cocktails by top New Orleans chefs and mixologists.
Admission is included with Food Forum registration or may be purchased à la carte for $25 per person.
Participating Restaurants & Mixologists
El Gato Negro
El Gato Negro is New Orleans’s most authentic Mexican kitchen. Owner Juan Contreras dedicated the local group of restaurants to his father and mother, who immigrated to this country with nothing but dreams. The menu is inspired by their family recipes from the Mexican state of Michoacán.
Deniseea Head
Deniseea Head is a New Orleans–based educator, mixologist, and entrepreneur known for her brand Chicken and Champagne, which integrates Black history and culture into cocktail-making. She teaches mixology and shares stories through private classes, events, and online tutorials, making learning fun by pairing beverages with the rich, often untold, stories of Black communities. Head also co-owns the speakeasy Good Trouble with her husband and has collaborated with brands like Grand Marnier to explore elevated and local cocktail combinations.
Napoleon House
In 2015 Ralph Brennan, whose family is a long-standing institution of New Orleans hospitality, accepted stewardship of Napoleon House from the Impastato family (its owners from the previous century), declaring his intention to maintain its relaxed and venerable character. Its patrons can still expect a soundtrack of classical music and the best muffulettas in town, as well as the same warm welcome first inspired by Napoleon and practiced here ever since.
Nolita Bakery
Nolita Bakery is helmed by Chef Martha Gilreath, whose journey through homelessness and addiction has been transformed into a passion project that has left a lasting impression not only on taste buds, but also on hearts. Nolita Bakery started as a pop-up in New Orleans in 2021, and it has been satisfying happy bellies ever since. The bakery offers a mouthwatering menu full of handcrafted treats—from buttery croissants and fresh-baked pastries to rich, indulgent desserts and a rotating menu of savory bites made from scratch.
Saint John
Saint John draws inspiration from simple, sustainable family dishes meant to feed the masses in an elevated yet approachable way. Saint John specializes in chef and owner Eric Cook’s take on haute Creole cuisine. Cook draws inspiration from traditional Sunday dinners in New Orleans and old times of celebration—when French Quarter neighbors would go house to house, offering dishes made solely from the season’s crops and catches, and sharing in the celebration of community and good food.
Vaucresson’s
New Orleans’s Seventh Ward Creole culture is thriving, with the Vaucresson family standing as proud keepers of the flame. For generations, their recipes and practices have been lovingly passed down, keeping traditions alive through food and the joy of gathering to make it. In their hands, Creole heritage is not just preserved—it’s celebrated with every bite and every good time shared.
Meet Your Host
Megan Braden-Perry
Megan Braden-Perry
Megan Braden-Perry is an author, award-winning journalist, multigenerational Black Creole New Orleans native, and mom. In addition to her own books, Braden-Perry’s byline has appeared in NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, Gambit Weekly, Bon Appetit, Epicurious, Oxford American, The New York Times, and many, many more. She’s covered everything, including New Orleans culture, Black culture, food, drink, travel, crime, education, parenting, religion, Creole culture, and politics.
Braden-Perry is the recipient of a 2025 Black Women in Food Amplifier award, a 2024 Dillard University 40 Under 40 award, the 2024 New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund Literary Arts and Humanities award, the 2017 Delta Sigma Theta New Orleans alumnae Artie Award in literature, and a 2013 Press Club of New Orleans Excellence in Journalism award.
When she’s not writing, she’s hanging out with her son, Franklin. Her best friend Jenny says she’ll “talk to the Devil for a sandwich,” and that is the most accurate biographical detail to date.
Support
The 2025 Food Forum is presented by Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning Blends.
Explore the Food Forum
“Come Pass a Good Time”
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